The CTBUH Global News Archive is the primary place to get all the latest news on tall buildings, urban development and sustainable construction from around the world. The CTBUH also disseminates this information via our Monthly e-Newsletter, CTBUH Journal, and through books and reports. To view news for a certain category or time period, please use the links on the left side menu.

RFR Realty has secured a $70 million bridge loan to finally begin construction on the long-stalled 610 Lexington Avenue. The building was first proposed in 2005, originally as a Foster + Partners-designed Shangri-La Hotel. Later, the plan was changed to a hotel and condo tower by SLCE Architects. Read more.

CTBUH Research Working Group Co-Chair Philip Oldfield has written an editorial for The Guardian, expounding upon the benefits of high-rise living and the necessary steps needed to make tall buildings more attractive to a wider variety of residents. Read more.

International architecture firm Aedas has created an apartment building to reinterpret Hong Kong's traditional architecture. Located in the Mongkok District, which has a population density of 130,000 people per square kilometer (333,000 people per square mile), Composite Building features a lush living wall to enhance quality of life. Read more.

Plans have been approved for a 623-foot (190-meter) office tower at the Heron Quays West site in Canary Wharf, designed by Adamson Associates. Tower Hamlets councilors gave the go-ahead for the plans, which replace an earlier scheme designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSH+P). Read more.

Plans to convert the iconic Wicker Park high-rise at Milwaukee, Damen and North avenues into a boutique hotel are finally back in motion. The 12-story art-deco office building, colloquially known as The Coyote Building, has long been in talks to receive a major redevelopment. Read more.

Brookfield Office Properties, which is in the midst of a major deal to purchase four downtown LA skyscrapers for $2.1 billion, is drawing fire from activists who accuse the company of using a loophole in the law to escape paying tens of millions of dollars in property taxes on some of the buildings in its portfolio. Read more.

After a troubled start, the ultra-thin skyscraper One Madison Park re-emerged on the New York City market last week, this time with a $50 million triplex penthouse at the top. The luxury high-rise on the south side of Madison Square Park has 53 apartments in total, spread out over its 60 floors. Read more.

Developers of a large student housing block have welcomed planners' decision to defer consideration of their building application. Catalyst Capital submitted plans for a mixed-use development on the site of Morgan House next to Stratford Centre, including a 28-story student housing tower. Read more.

Plans for Milwaukee's tallest new office building in decades, a $450 million, 32-story office tower, have been revealed by Northwestern Mutual Life (NML). At 1.11 million square feet (103,000 square meters), the new Pickard Chilton-designed skyscraper will reportedly be the largest building under one roof in Wisconsin. Read more.

Architectural photographer Richard Berenholtz was commissioned to document the construction of the Rafael Viñoly-designed 432 Park Avenue. Since December 2011, the former architect has been chronicling the progress on what is slated to become the tallest residential building in New York. Read more.

Commerce Tower, a 30-story fixture on the downtown Kansas City skyline for a half-century, may find new life as a $71 million apartment and office project. The office building at 911 Main Street, which is now 60 percent vacant, will be converted into 265 apartments, keeping 160,000 square feet (14,900 square meters) as office space. Read more.

Hotel guests and condominium owners in the upcoming Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver will travel in style. The developers of the $360 million project have struck a pair of major deals to offer high-class chauffeuring and air transport to residents of the tower, beginning in 2016. Read more.

In June, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill released its Timber Tower Research Project, a study of the possibilities of tall wood construction. In a recent story, The New York Times investigates SOM's findings, interviewing engineers who worked on the report and others involved in tall wood-building design. Read more.

The Urban Mountain team has won the Nordic Built Challenge in Norway with a proposal that includes the refurbishment and extension of Biskop Gunnerus Gate 14 in central Oslo, creating Norway's tallest building. The design team will employ Cradle-to-Cradle principles as well as a series of sustainable strategies. Read more.

Swire Properties Inc. announced details of the future addition to its Brickell CityCentre project, unveiling a mixed-use tower at 700 Brickell Ave., a site purchased in July for $64 million. The plans include 80 stories of retail space, office space, condominiums and a hotel. Read more.

Ground was broken last week on the $630 million skyscraper project next to the site of the historic Filene's department store in Downtown Crossing, Boston. The 625-foot (191-meter) mixed-use Millennium Tower project has been in the planning phases for years, since before the recession. Read more.

The 27-story Balfron Tower in east London is set for a full refurbishment. Designed by Ernő Goldfinger in 1963 for the London County Council, the 276-foot (84-meter) social housing tower will be transformed into a residential building comprised completely of private apartments. Read more.

Plans have been unveiled for a United Nations skyscraper designed by Pritzker Prize-winner Fumihiko Maki. The tower was designed to consolidate the UN's scattered operations into a single structure on First Avenue, containing office space for as many as 2,700 UN employees on the upper floors. Read more.

Dallas law firm Jackson Walker has rented just over 10,000 square feet (929 square meters) of space in a new office tower going up in downtown Dallas, joining accounting firm KPMG and UMB Bank as lead tenants in the 18-story, 500,000-square foot (46,000-square meter) high-rise, to be called KPMG Plaza. Read more.

Adrian Smith writes for Design Intelligence in a recent piece, "The Advantages and Disadvantages of Building Tall," addressing the burning questions about the future of tall building development. Looking at topics including practicality, affordability and sustainability, Smith attempts to communicate why we build tall. Read more.

On September 17, a US district court ruled that the owners of 650 Fifth Avenue, Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp., were "shielding and concealing Iranian assets" in violation of US economic sanctions on Iran's government. The Justice Department is set to seize control of the skyscraper. Read more.

The City of Helsinki is launching a major redevelopment plan, which is set to include 10 or more skyscrapers. In association with the World Cities Network, the city will be calling for submissions to the Pasila Master Plan design competition by the end of the year. Read more.

Omninet Capital, a Beverly Hills real estate firm, acquired the Bank of America building in midtown Phoenix for $14.8 million. The firm will complete $2 million in renovations on the 360-foot (110-meter) building, which is 87 percent leased by tenants such as Bank of America, Xerox and Teach for America. Read more.

Cordish Cos. plans to launch a 25-story luxury-apartment skyscraper in downtown Kansas City as the first in a series of four residential towers in the city. The $79 million One Power & Light building is scheduled to begin construction this year, with completion set for 2015. Read more.

Science-fiction author Neal Stephenson has designed a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) concept skyscraper from which objects could be easily launched into outer space. The Tower Project is a Project Hieroglyph collaboration at Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination. Read more.

Russian developer Hermitage seems to be moving forward with its long-stalled Hermitage Plaza in the La Defense district of Paris. The €3 billion (US$4 billion) complex features a pair of 320-meter (1,050-foot) towers. Hermitage hopes to finally secure financing by the end of the year in order to begin construction. Read more.

Michigan-based Schostak Bros. & Co. plans to build a $111 million, 16-story building on Monroe Street in downtown Detroit. This project marks the first new major office construction in the city's central business district since construction on One Kennedy Square began in 2005. Read more.

Henderson Global Investors has unveiled plans to build a 910,000-square foot office tower at 40 Leadenhall Street in the City of London. Plans for the 170-meter (558-foot) building, which were revealed today, also include 20,000 square feet (1,900 square meters) of space for shops, cafés and restaurants on the ground floor. Read more.

Chicago's Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority has awarded Marriott the operating contract of its hotel project, to be built near McCormick Place. The planned 50-story, 1,200-room McCormick Place Marriott Marquis hotel is expected to open in late 2016, next to the West Building of the convention center. Read more.